1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fiber holder, and particularly a fiber holder for securing and presenting hanks of fiber which have been separated by color and/or nature.
2. Prior Art
Various devices have been provided in the past for holding hanks of fiber wherein the fiber may be separated by colors and/or nature and displayed for selection and use. Because of the physical nature of the hanks of fiber, prior art devices had great difficulty securing the hanks reliably but also removably to the devices. Furthermore, the prior art devices did not present the fiber to the user in the easiest and most convenient manner.
This invention particularly concerns the field of fly tying and more specifically to a device for storing and presenting fly-tying material in the most effective way to the fly tyer.
One of the most challenging and creative activities relating to the sport and hobby of fishing is the creation of decorated fish hooks generally called flies. The art and craft of constructing these flies not only requires tremendous skill and patience, but also requires extensive knowledge not only of fish psychology, but also of the history of fly tying which dates back hundreds of years and provides a great deal of practical knowledge about the kinds of things that are attractive to fish. Part of the challenge of fly tying is the vast array of raw materials which are used for that activity. One particular kind of raw material involves strands of fiber which are usually used in bunches or hanks and are generically called floss. The floss can be made from a wide variety of materials both natural and synthetic and can come in a wide range of colors, forms, flexibility, reflectivity, transparency, and numerous other physical and optical characteristics. It is very desirable to allow the bundles of floss to be stored in the manner which allows for neat and orderly storage, but which also allows for keeping and presenting the stored floss to the fly tyer so that the fly tyer can access floss in a simple and efficient way to allow efficient manufacturing of the flies. In addition to storing and presenting the floss in very effective manner, is very important that the floss be provided in bundles of parallel fiber which can easily be clipped with scissors to provide the length and number of fibers desired by the fly tyer for a particular operation.
When the various colors and types of floss are stored in a random manner as such as in a box or other container, they tend to become mixed together become hard to find and become quite difficult to gather into the effective parallel bundles which are usually necessary to carry out the fly tying operation. Over the years, numerous techniques and equipment have been developed to try to bring some order to the fly tying storage function. However in most cases, the storage systems which hold the floss in an orderly fashion are difficult to reach and difficult to identify and access the desired floss. In other cases, the floss cannot easily be grabbed by the fly tyer so that the fly tyer can select a bundle of fibers of floss that are of the correct number and then clip off the correct length in an easy and efficient operation. These difficulties experienced with a prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.